This website uses cookies to personalise yourexperience including personalising content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic with third parties inline with our Privacy and Cookies policy.

It's the news that fans have been waiting to hear as Kate Ritchie returns to Home And Away!

As an eight-year-old, Kate captured the nation’s heart playing Sally Fletcher, residing in Summer Bay for 20 years. Now, after a five-year break, Kate is delighted to be returning to the show that made her a household name.

'There will be a wonderful sense of familiarity stepping back into Sally’s shoes for a while,' Kate says. 'Summer Bay is a very different place these days and I am looking forward to working with all the fresh faces that have continued to take Home and Away from strength to strength.

'It will be a good opportunity to catch up with some old mates too! Those cast and crew I worked with for so many years are who I have missed the most.'

Kate will return for a special story arc that sees Sally welcomed back to her Summer Bay home.

'I'm not going back forever, just for a couple of months, but there's a great story for Sally and my return was heavily reliant on that,' Kate told Australia's New Idea magazine. 'I wasn't going to come back and change sheets in the caravan park!'

Kate will begin filming in the coming weeks and the storyline will air over a number of months later this year. 'The show will always have a big place in my heart, which is why revisiting it is such a wonderful opportunity.'

Series Producer Lucy Addario says: 'We are thrilled Kate is returning to Home and Away. Sally holds such a special place in the heart of the show and we trust fans will be as excited as we are to watch her story unfold and follow Sally’s journey again.'

Greg Barnett, Commissioning Editor of Entertainment, Daytime and Soaps at Channel 5, says: 'It's going to be terrific having Sally back in the Bay in Home and Away's 25th anniversary year. The wedding of Roo and Harvey this week will also see the return of favourites Celia, Morag and Colleen, and with a new intake of sexy young cast arriving in 2013, Home and Away couldn't be in better shape. It's utterly unmissable.'